Return of the Yume Inu
by wolfprincess45
Summary: The Yume Inu's were once the fortune tellers of the Onia. Inu recently learns her family history which later leads to her having to live in Kamui when Orochi returns. Maybe one certain Onia can make it less dull. If they dont kill each other first. OkixOc ON HOLD
1. History

**I promised that once I finished the game I would write a story about my favorite character in the game. At first my favorite was Ammy (cant spell whole name atm.) but once I finished it became Oki. Although I have to admit not being able to use the power slash or headbut on him make me sad cause I would have loved to see his reaction. However drawing a circle around him (bloom) will make him change from human to wolf and vice versa is cool (works on all members of the Onia tribe). Anyway you all know I do the character info and history before I start the story but I will mix it with a chapter. Takes place about a week before the start of Okami.**

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><p>"Grandmother Fawn!" I yelled.<p>

I was in Agata Forest having just returned from Kamiki Village. My grandmother wanted me to get some fresh fruit and she thinks the best comes from Kamiki. My grandmother and I lived in the cavern inside Agata Forest. My Grandmother Fawn is a fortune teller. She reads bones and can give people hints about their futures. As I walked down the long tunnel leading to the house I could hear voices. I smelled them before I could hear them. I had shaper senses then most people but we'll to to that in a minute.

I came to the small pool of fresh water and a house residing inside the cavern. There was a line of about ten people waiting outside the house. They were most likely waiting to see what their future would bring. I've lived here with her for the past fourteen years. My father fell ill and died when I was six years old. I've lived with her I never knew my mother but I was told I get my looks from her. I wish I had a picture of her to compare our faces. I sat near the edge of the pool to wait for my Grandmother to be done. Normally I would give visions to customers with her but not often.

I mostly took fees and did palm readings. Like my grandmother I mostly would read bones instead. I had the power to look into the future like my grandmother. My visions were clear and strong but unlike Grandmother Fawn I could not have them at will. They only came if I looked at certain items that could be part of something important. Other times they come when someone mentions something. Most of the time they're small things.

As for my shaper senses, they made my fortune telling skills a bit stronger. I guess I could say I wasn't normal. I could turn into a wolf and change back again in a flash. My father showed me how to do it before he passed. It ran in his, and my grandmother's side of the family. He once told me he would explain our family history to me when I was older. Now my Grandmother Fawn said that today, on my 20th birthday, she would tell me the family history. She would explain why our family turned into wolves and about our fortune telling talent.

All I knew was that part of out family history involved our hair and eyes. My hair was white and black and went down to my hips. The white being like an upper coat and the black being the bottem. I usually kept it tied into a loose, low ponytail. Today it wasn't tied back and flowed over my shoulders like water. Unless I had a bedhead. Then it would be all over the place, but easy to fix. **(1)** My eyes were a deep blue, the color of sapphires. They sometimes looked silver when the light hit them a certain way.

Another small part of our family history involves the color of the clothes we wear. Some of that included a mask we wore. I've never gone into dept about the mask and didn't understand what it was about. As for the clothes, they were to match our hair and partly our eyes. I wore a short black silk kimono with white flowers. **(2)** My shoes were flats so I could run as much as I wanted. I also wore a polished wolf fang around my neck as a charm. **(3)** It was a gift from the queen herself as a charm for protection. Attached to the necklace were also rings that belonged to my parents and a small ink bottle. What the ink bottle was for I had no idea, but I knew she knows something I dont.

Right now I bet your wondering how I know the Queen Himiko right? Well that's not too important right now but I can tell you I met her through Rao. queen Himiko does help me understand my visions though.

"The sun is setting. How long does this take?"

I looked up to see the carpender from Shinshu Feild. He never told me his name but he came around often. I just called him Mr. C because of his job. Everyone in line were people I reconized, but couldn't place names. Some came as far as from Taka Pass, Shinshu Feild, and sometimes come from as far as the City Checkpoint. The line was still a bit long. Grandmother Fawn must be getting tired.

There's been a lot more people coming to vist lately. Mainly because they had bad feelings or wanted to know about the festival this year. If Grandmother tells fortunes all day she can get tired and it can take longer for her to tell fortunes. I stood up and walked over to Mr. C and the other customers.

"Hello Mr. C. Can I halp you?" I asked nicely. He turned to look at me with his mouth open.

"Hello, Inu. I wanted to get a palm reading." he said a little shyly. I'm not sure why but guys always got that way near me. This one time an old man told me I was as beautiful as Rao. I really doubted that.

"Alright. That will be 500 yen please." He handed me the money and I placed it in a small pouch I carried with me. Sometimes when I went out people stopped me and asked for fortunes. I took his palm after putting away the money. I looked at his palm, studying it. As usualy with my palm readings a phrase came to my head.

"Well, what can you tell?" he asked.

"Good things await in your future. Expect more customers." I replied.

"Thanks, Inu!" he said smiling. He turned and left waving over his shoulder.

"Now can I help anyone else?" I said turning to the others. They started to crowd around me asking for palm and bone readings. By the time the customer inside came out I was finishing up with the ones outside. The last was the old man who said I was as pretty as Rao. He asked for a palm reading, comented on my looks again and left. Once the others were all gone I went inside the house.

Grandmother Fawn was sitting at her desk putting away her bones she uses for telling. I handed her the money I made from the people outside. She added it to the ones she already had and started to count.

"Inu, do you think you could go fishing? We're running low." she said not looking up from the money.

"Sure, I can catch up with Kokari and his dad." I said. I went to my room to get my fishing pole and some extra line. Knowing Kokari,he would have lost all of his. I set my line inside my money pouch and put my pole on my back.

"Also go to Kiba's market and get some herbs and medicine. When you get back I'll tell you about our family history." she said giving me some of the money.

"Thanks Grandma!" I yelled running out of the cavern. I knew she didn't like to be called Grandma, which is why I called her Grandmother. I didn't see the difference but she did.

As I exited the cavern, I noticed that Mr. C was right. The sun was starting to set. Once it set catching some fish would be even harder. With the water having no bottem fishing here was hard enough as it is. Even with my shaper senses I could barely see the fish through the surface of the water, but only when the light wasn't shinging on it. As I came to the shoreline I leaped across to one of the small islands. My feet ended up in the water. The water only went up to my ankels. Since I was close to the shore I didn't have to worry about the dark depts of the water.

As I leaped over to the other islands I was careful to watch my footing. I didn't want to end up falling in the dark water. As I made it to the final island, }I saw Kokari and his dog Ume. I think he was a little too attached to his Ume. But who was I to come between a boy and his dog? As I approached I realized I was right, he ran out of line. Reaching into my pouch, I pulled out a spool of line and tossed it into his lap.

"Dont tell you've given up?" I said as I walked to the water's edge.

"Inu!" he exclaimed jumping on me. Ume ran to me and began barking excitedly. I could guess what he was saying.

When I turned into a wolf I could understand animals. I spent most of the time just talking to Ume. We would talk to each other while Kokari fished sometimes. I would tell his a bit about my past and he would do the same. I found that his life back in Kusa village was exciting. I've been there before and met Princess Fuse, but never all of the Canine Warriors. Just Ume, Take who lives in Sasa Sancuary, and Hayabusa in Kamiki Village.

"Are you here to do some fishing with me?" he asked after letting go.

"Yes but not for long. I have to go see Kiba and buy some things." I replied.

"Well then I bet I catch more fish then you before you have to leave!" he said throwing his new line into the water.

"No fair getting a head start." I laughed while throwing my line into the water.

For the next 20 minutes or so we spent the time fishing. Kokari talked about my trip to Kamiki and some of the other trips I've been on. Ume layed between the two of up watching us fish. I ended up catching more (and bigger) fish then Kokari. He got jealous and I gave him some of my fish until we had a equal amount. The moon was just about to rise into the sky. I had to make it to Kiba before he closed.

"I'll see you Kokari! I have to get going now." I said gathering up the fish. We each had about ten or fifthteen each.

"Goodbye Inu!" Kokari said waving at me as I jumped across the islands.

Jumping the islands would take longer but I wasn't in the mood to get wet by swimming the river. I had to run the rest of the way to Kiba's. I managed to catch him right as he was closing.

"Hello Inu. Come for the usual?" he asked. I just nodded completely out of breath. He handed me my supplies and I payed and thanked him.

"Inu there you are." said Grandmother Fawn. I ran the rest of the way back to the cavern. My extra senses and stamina should have left me with enough energy. I had no idea I was running so hard.

"Sorry... fishing..." I managed to say.

"Never mind then." she said. She took some of the fish and walked back towards the house.

Once we were back at the house I started to cook some of the fish with the fruit and other things i've gotten from Kiba's market. I made some cherry cakes that Mrs. Orange taught me to make. We were in the middle of eating when Grandmother began to speak.

"I guess it's about time I told you about your history now." she said.

"Really?" I said taking a bite of one of the cherry cakes.

"Yes. I promised your father I would when you were old enough." she pulled out a small rectangular box from her sleeve. It had the same pattern as my kimono, only instead of white the flowers were a deep blue color like my eyes.

"Prphhy bom...(pretty box)" I said with a mouth full of cherry cake. She pulled the box out of my reach.

"Not yet" she said setting it beside her where I couldn't reach it. "Wait till I'm done telling you about the family history."

"No fair." I pouted.

"Inuchi..." she said clearly agitated.

She only used my full name when she was agitated. My name translated into "Dog knowledge" which is why I went by plain Inu. Having my people call me a dog seamed like less of an insult then using my full name. It felt like they were comparing my mind to a dogs, and most people dont think dogs are smart.

"Sorry" I said taking a fish and tearing off a peice. "Continue."

"Now then," she started. "do you remember about how I told you about Kamui?"

"Yes." I replied.

"Well then in Kamui there are people there called the Onia Tribe. They are a special tribe of people who wore mask and had the ability to turn into wolves." she said.

"Wait wolves? Do you mean like..."

"Yes, I mean like you. They are where our family originated from." she said taking a bite out of her own fish.

"How exactly?" I asked.

"Remember about how I told you about the Ark of Yamato, and where the demons originated from?" she asked. "And about the demon twin owls?"

"Yes, you said the demons stowed away on the ark and attacked the gods onboard." I replied. "And you said the owls were defeated and enshrined in a pair of mountains in Kamui."

"Well the demons owls were defeated and sealed away by a powerful member of the Onia Tribe. But he's not too important in our family." she said. She took one of the cherry cakes and took her time eatting it.

"Grandmother where are you going with this?" I asked getting impatient.

"This was over 200 years ago **(4),** " she said ignoring my tone. " It is around this time our family history starts."

"Wait a second." I stopped her. "Our family starts here?"

"No, this is where it gets intresting. Now if I can continue?" she replied.

"Sorry, continue." I said. I had finished eatting and was eager to hear the rest.

"Now then, our family has always been full of fortune tellers. Long ago, before the ark crashed, the gods gave us this power among a few others. But we'll get to the others in a minute. Anyway our family used our gift to help the Onia Tribe. We would predict how things may go for the year, weather the villagers would recover from an illness, how much more customers they might get, things like that." She stopped to get another cherry cake.

"Dont stop now." I said watching her take a bite. "I'm waiting for this story to get to the good part."

She raised an eyebrow at me but continued.

"In the Onia Tribe, they liked to call us fortune tellers The Yume Inu's. Also it's tradition for us to marry the strongest warrior, or the kindest woman in the village."

"They called us dream dogs?" I asked. She glared at me. "Sorry."

"As I was saying, it was tradition. The meaning behind it was forgotten long ago. Anyway one of our ansestors, Ayame, was the current Yume Inu at the time. She was engaged to a man named Kage. He was the cheif's son and strongest warrior in the tribe. She loved him, but all he cared about was himself. It was around this time the twin owls appeared. Many brave Onia warriors tried to defeat them but failed. Ayame was one one of the Onia's secret weapons because she could see into the future." she paused.

"What?" I asked after a while.

"I was waiting for you to stop me again." she said taking a sip of tea.

"Well I didn't so continue." I said.

"Very well." she said. "The owls were aware of her power and feared she would discover their weakness. So when Kage went to fight the owls, they tricked him into serving them. They promised to make him more powerful, and chief of the Onia, if he served them. He agreed and did what they asked. Like the owls asked, he took Ayame away and courted her during the night. When she awoke a few hours later, she saw Kage standing over her with his sword aimed at her heart."

"Ayame managed to avoid his blade and escape as a wolf. Kage chased after her until he caught her near the edge of Kamui. It was then he reveiled the demon's plans. He then turned into a wolf and attacked Ayame. She fought with all her might but was no match for him. Right before he could deal the final blow, his younger brother, Tai, stopped him. He told Ayame to run and she did. From there we later learned Tai killed his brother, and later defeated the owls."

"So what happened to Ayame?" I asked.

"I'm getting to that." she said refilling her tea cup." Ayame was so distraut at the death of Kage, even though he tried to kill her. She never returned to the village, but instead chose to live here, in Agata Forest. She later discovered she was with child. After some time, members of the Onia Tribe began to scearch for her, but failed to find her. Even though they tracked her in wolf form, they still failed."

"How could they fail in wolf form?" I asked confused. "My own nose is pretty sharp and can pick up the smallest of scents."

"Thats where our other gifts come in. The great god, Okami Amaratsu, gifted our family some of her power. The power of her brush techniques. Our control over them is weaker but is strong. Sometimes this certain gift would skip a generation or two, but it didn't happen often. It skipped both me and your father, but you have it." she then picked up the small box and handed it to me.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It's something that's been passed down to our family through generations. It's only given to those who can use the brush techniques. " she said.

I opened the box to find a fan. It was about 7 or 8 inches long. The outide handles of it were black with white flowers. When I opened it, the inside was black. It had blue pawprints on it that looked like a animal was walking on it. There were six blue pawprints going from left end to the right. When I tuned it a certain way the pawprints caught the light and shown. Attatched the the end of it was a small paintbrush about three inches long. The tip of the brush was black from ink, most likely from constant use. It was a simple brush with a black handle. While I held the fan It felt so normal, like it belonged there.

"What's this for?" I asked. I didn't take my eyes off the fan as I continued to turn it over.

"It's a weapon." she started. My eyes snapped up when she said weapon. "The fan can take on the form of a sword if you need it. It can also become a sheild and sometimes store things you cant always carry **(5) **such as medicine, scrools, food, and other things."

"And the brush?" I asked.

"That's for the brush techniques."

"What do I do for ink?" I asked. "All I have is this little bottle Himiko gave me and I dont think that counts for a lot."

"There's some in the fan." she said. "This is your first time using the fan so it may take time. See the second pawprint?"

I looked at the fan at the second pawprint and nodded "What do I do?"

"Just brush your fingers over it. Think about becoming a wolf or what it feels like to have a vision." she said.

I did as she said. For a few seconds, nothing happened. After about a minutes of concentrating, I closed my eyes and imagined what it felt like to turn into a wolf. It always felt nice and painless. It felt like water running over me and washing the human away, leaving behind the wolf in my place. I brushed my fingers over the pawprint again and waited. After a few seconds, I felt a slight tingle. I opened my eyes to look at the fan. There were three new images of what looked like little ink bottles.

"What is that?" I asked pointing at the ink bottles.

"That's your ink." she said like it was obvious. "When you control these powers a bit more, you will know which pawprint has what."

"Well can you tell me what they are?" I asked.

"The first pawprint is your items. Medicines and charms. The second is your ink, as you already know. It also holds your money. The third holds your journal and the bones for your fortune telling. The fourth holds extra food, fish, fruits, any kind of food. The fifth holds your information about the brush techniques and your map. As for the sixth, it holds your treasures and gifts you may get while traveling." she explained.

"That's a lot of things to hold. Besides this is a fan." I said closing the fan.

"It's a special fan." she said. "Now then, it's late and it's time to go to bed. In the morning I'll help you with learning the brush techniques. We'll start off doing the small things. I dont think you'll need to learn how to turn the fan into a weapon."

She stood up and began to clean up. I set the fan inside my kimono and the box inside my sleeve. I helped Grandmother Fawn clean up then got ready for bed. I took the box out of my sleeve and the fan out of my kimono. I set the fan carefully back inside the box, arranging it the way it looked when I first opened it. I had just finished brushing my hair and tying it up with my dark blue ribbon when my grandmother called to me.

"Dont forget," she called from outside my door. "We'll be closed tomarrow so we'll spend the day talking about the different brush techniques and help you learn them."

"Goodnight Grandmother." I called threw my door. I got up to blow out he candels in my room before settling down for bed.

"Goodnight Inu." she called out. With my sharp senses, I heard her close her door and even heard her blow out the candles in her room.

As I layed down to sleep I felt something, like a small jolt. It wasn't painful but felt like someone threw cold water on my face. I knew what this feeling was, because I've felt it before. I knew it was causing my eyes to look silver and made me appear that I'm staring into space. It was the same familiar feeling I got when I was having a vision.

_There was a cave with the sihouette of a man standing just inside the mouth of the cave. Everything was dark and there was a bad vibe going through the air._

_"Is this the legendary sword? Is this Tsukuyomi, the sword that banished the dreaded Orochi? ... ... No... it couldn't be. It's just a legend... Nothing but a fairy tale!"_

_The man was dressed in all black and had his face covered. His voice however, sounded very familiar. In front of him was a sword embeded in stone. The man lifted the sword and the silhouette of a giant eight-headed beast appears._

_"O, he who seeks power... He who has broken my bonds... Speak the words, 'I wish darkness unto the world.' Utter that prayer unto me, and unleash my_  
><em>power."<em>

_The man quickly runs away, as the giant beast unleashes his evil and darkness spreads across the land._

I gasped for air, taking in big breaths. I could feel sweat on my forehead. The door to my room slid open and Grandmother Fawn stood there, holding a cup of tea.

"I heard you scream." she said.

She handed me the cup and I swallowed it all in one big gulp. She left the room and came back with a pitcher and a cup of water. I drank about three cups of water before I was calm. While I was drinking the water she lit a few of the candles in my room. The vibe of that vision just screamed... evil. It gave me a bad feeling in my stomach.

"Now can you tell me what happened?" she asked refilling my cup.

I took a few sips and began to replay the events I saw in my vision. She listened intently as I explained what I saw. When I explained the evil vibe I felt, her eyes widened.

"This doesn't sound good... she said thoughtfully. "This could be very bad."

"What does it mean?" I asked. I poured myself another cup of water once I finished my fourth.

"I dont know." she said standing up. "I'll have to check the bones and see what they say in the morning."

"What do I do?" I asked.

"You get some sleep and dont worry about a thing." she said closing my door. She mumbled out a goodnight through my door and I replied back.

I layed down awake and staring at my ceiling for a while just thinking. The man's voice sounded so familiar, I know I've heard it before. It couldn't have been too long ago. I remember hearing the voice today. But I talk to so many people every day It's hard to keep track. I feel asleep a few minutes later. I was expecting to have nightmares from that vision. What I had instead confused me.

_I drempt about a snowy tundra. There was a blizzard rageing all around me. Strangly enough, I didn't feel cold. I was laying mostly facedown in the snow. My eyes were getting heavy as I strrugled to hold them open. I saw the figure of a dog running towards me. As it got closer I could see that it wasn't a dog at all. It was a large wolf. The blizzard was affecting my vision. I couldn't make out the colors on the wolf. My eyes closed as the wolf got closer._

_At one point I could hear something being mumbled. I realized it was a voice, but I was too out of it to hear what it said. I couldn't even tell if it was male or female. After a moment I felt hands grab me and pick me up. They were suprisingly gently. I didn't know who was holding me, but I felt safe. I didn't know who this person was, but I felt safe with them._

When I woke up I realized I had had broken out in a sweat, but there was a small smaile on my face.

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><p><strong>1. Her hair. Check the review.<strong>

**2. This is what I was thinking of her kimono.**

**3. I know that Queen Himiko is well... a queen but in this story she knows her. As for the rings... I'll find a picture for them some other time.**

**4. I dont know how long time passed between the defeat of the owls and the start of Okami so I'm guessing.**

**5. Pretty much she has her own fan menu. You know how when the page loads and it shows pawprints that lead to Issun? well she just has the six pawprints.**

**I dont remember the owls names an I'm too lazy to look them up right now. The links will go in the review cause I cant get them here. Oki will arrive in about... chapter two. so not to long now. :D**


	2. Training?

**I honestly expected to post this sooner but since school started i've been exausted. And it's only been three weeks. Enjoy.**

**xXNightly RainXx: **

**Thanks for the review. I find it easier to type in first person because I partily see it from my actualy point of view. There will be some parts written in second or third person in the story like when it's from Ammy. I dont mide critisim (good or bad) because it helps me know how I can impove my stories for people.**

**Tamisin:**

**Thanks! I hoped to update a bit sooner. I'll update again as soon as I can.**

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><p>I swung my sword in a wide ark aiming at the stomach. My oppenet jumped back in time to avoid injury, but his clothes got cut a bit. He moved to the side and struck his sword out aiming for my hand that held the sword. I backed up and brought up my arm to block the attack. His sword cut my forearm. I few drops of blood fell onto the ice. I felt his fist connect with my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. Before I could react, my feet were knocked out from under me. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground with a sword pointed at my throat.<p>

"You've lost this fight, Oki." he panted out.

"Whatever." I growled back at him.

"No need to glare at me like that." he replied.

Samickle suggested that I come spar with him in the village. He and I both knew I didn't like to come into the village. It bothered me just to go to the small fishing hole near the dojo. He thought it would be a challange to fight on the slippery ice instead of the snow. I thought it was stupid but agreed to it anyway. I figured this would be easy fight and the sooner I won, the sooner I could go back to my hut outside of the village. It had only taken a few minutes for him to knock me down. Although I spent my free time training and he spent his reading he was still stronger then me. For the moment anyway.

Samickle seathed his sword and held out a hand to help me up. I ignored it and stood up on my own. As I maintained my balance on the ice I noticed the few people who gathered to watch us fight. Old man Kemu was watching us on the snow from a few feet away. He caught my gaze and lowered his head. His head was shaking slowly like something bad happened. On his left side was Tuskle. She stood watching with her arms crossed, like she dissaproved of my performance.

I never really liked Tuskle. She always knew how to rub me the wrong way. Plus those owls on her head just freaked me out. To Kemu's right was Kai. I could feel her sympethetic eyes boring into me through our masks. Her younger sister Lika was a few feet behind her, building a snowman. She didn't seem to notice that we had stopped sparring.

"You need to control your temper when you fight, Oki." she said slowly. I could hear the smirk in her voice and turned away.

"I dont need to control my temper." I snapped back with a little more force then nessesary. "I'm doing fine."

"Is that why you always lose to Samickle?" she asked calmly.

I turned back to face her and glared. She had a smug looking smile on her face that I just wanted to rip off. She had hit a button and she knew it. I was pretty sure that the others could smell my anger with their sharp senses. Before I could take a step toward her Kemu spoke up.

"That's enough! Oki, you need to get a handle on your temper." he paused and looked at Tuskle. "And Tuskle you need to stop baiting him."

"It's not my fault the pup can't control himself." she mumbled.

I could hear the humor in her voice. It sparked my anger once again. I could see Samickle tense up in the corner of my eye (or mask) but he was a bit too slow. With my sword still in my hand I charged at Tuskle, who had a shocked look on her face. A hand grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me backwards, causing me to slide backwards on the ice a few feet. I jumped to my feet and my sword met with Samickle's. Before I could strike again, Samickle moved his sword away and managed to knock mine out of my hand. My sword flew through the air for a moment before landing in the ice a few feet away.

Without my sword, I was at a disadvantage. I turned into a wolf and charged at him, my claws getting a firm grip on the ice. Samickle turned into a wolf and charged to meet me head on. I ducked down to avoid a swing of his sword and chomped down on his hind leg. He howled in pain and let go of his sword. He recovered faster then I thought he would and grabbed onto my scruff. I rolled over trying to shake him off, which was harder to do because of the ice. My struggling caused his grip to loosen and that was all I needed.

"Oki!" yelled out Kai. I ignored her, my attention on the wolf I was fighting.

Twisting out of his grip, I used my claws and aimed for his eyes. He managed to dodge, but it wasn't enough. I scratched his nose causeing some blood to well up. He growled at me and I could smell his anger. I lunged at him again aiming for his legs. He moved to the side at the last second and dove under me. I slid on the ice for a few seconds before I fell heavily on my side. Samickle bit onto my forearm beofore I had a chance to recover. It was the same arm his sword cut earlier. Barely managing to hold in my yelp, I struggled to get out of his group which proved to be a bad idea.

He chomped down harder on my arm as I struggled. Remembering his leg, I racked my back claws across the wound I gave him earlier. His grip loosened and I twisted free. He dove under me again and latched onto my left leg. His tail came up and hit me in the face. It gave me an idea. I aimed for his tail, knowing it was his weak spot and bit down. Samickle yelped and fully let go of my leg. Before he could try to pry himself free I pulled on his tail and threw him into a nearby tree with all my strength. He jumped back up and came at me.

"Oki, that's enough!" I heard Kemu yell. I ignored him too.

I used one of his moves and dove under him. I scratched his leg again. As we slid a few feet apart I could see the wound had gotten worse. Blood coated his leg ruining his light blue fur. He held it a off of the ground a bit. raced towards him aiming for his wounded leg again. I knew it would be a cheap trick but did it anyway. Grabbing onto his injured leg I managed to lift him up again and throw him back into the tree. The throw caused me to slid away from him by a few feet. He struggled to stand up.

My anger had caused me to lose it. My wolf instincts had taken full control. My wolf didn't care what happened to Samickle at the moment. It didn't care what the rest of thr tribe would think of him. It saw him as an enemy that neede to be gotten rid of once and for all. This time I aimed for his throat, going for the kill.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of orange and brown. I felt sharp teeth grab onto my scruff and throw me into the cliffside. It dazed me for a short moment until I remembered what had just happened. I jumped to my feet, using my claws to steady myself on the ice and growled at the wolf in front of me. Kemu was facing me, blocking my way to Samickle. Kai was standing in front of Samickle who hadn't left the spot he was in. Obviously he didn't want to hurt Kai trying to attack me. It didn't stop him from growling at me over Kai's shoulder. Tuskle was standing a bit father away this time with Lika, who had stopped playing in the snow. I could smell Lika's fear from this distance.

"That's enough both of you!" growled Kemu. "Oki! We do not attack another member of the tribe just because they make you angry. Just because you refuse to live in the village with us does not make you and exception. Apologize to Tuskle and Samickle, now!"

My anger was still in full blast, but I had stopped growling. I took in my surroundings and saw that more Onia had gathered on the snow. The whole tribe must have come when Samickle howled. I glaced over at him to see him holding up his leg. Blood trickled down his leg and nose and onto the ice. Knowing that I had really down a number on his leg made me feel slightly better. He gave me a wolfish smirk, clearly pleased that Kemu ordered me to apologize to him. I turned back into a human ignoring the pain coming from my arm. Blood poured freely from my arm, forming a small dark puddle on the ice.

"I'm sorry Tuskle. " I snapped at her. I turned to look at Samickle. "I'm sorry Samickle." I said with venom in my voice. I didn't mean a single word of it.

Samickle had turned back to human and was leaning against Kai for support. His leg was clearly still bothering him. I could sense the smirk on his face behind his mask. I stared at the blood that formed on his clothes where his leg was. It gave me some satisfaction to know that I caused such a terrible wound. It might need stiches. I tore my gaze away and found Tuskle.

I could smell a bit of her fear, but it was fading now. It was slowly being replaced by anger. The rest of the tribe were staring at me, clearly angry. The smell of their anger combined came off in waves. Some of them were looking at Samickle with sympethic looks. Others were looking at Kemu, waiting to see what he would do to me.

"Everyone go back to their huts." ordered Kemu. "There will be a village meeting later, but for now go home."

The other Onia began to disperce. Some of them stopped to glance at me as they left. I'm guessing they were glaring at me through their mask. One of the village girls came and got Lika. I didn't know what her name was, but I didn't forget her squirrl mask. It always made me hungry. Soon it was just me, Samickle, Kai, Kemu, and Tuskle.

"Oki you will be punished for this. Your punishment will be announced at the village meeting. If you know what's good for you you'll be there." said Kemu.

Kemu turned and marched away. Tuskle walked over and picked up Samickle's sword then went over to help Kai walk him back to his hut. She turned to glare at me but continued on her way. Kai turned and gave me a sympathetic glance before continuing to help Samickle. In a few minutes they were out of site, and I was standing on the ice alone. Splatters of blood dotted the ice but I ignored them. I went over to my sword, still stuck in the ice and pulled it free. I seathed it and quickly walked towards my hut outside of the village.

My arm began to throb and I felt a bit lightheaded. I was glad I didn't have to go too far to get back to my hut. It would still take about thirty minutes to get there. Once again ignoring the pain in my arm, I became a wolf again and ran the rest of the way. As a wolf I would get there in less then half of the time. Even with my ingured arm slowing me down, I was sure I would get there in no time at all. About ten minutes later, I made it to my hut. I turned back into a human and sat down on a mat near one of the walls.

The fire had gone out while I was gone and needed to be restarted. I took a few peices of wood and threw them onto the remains of my earlier fire. Taking a couple of peices of flint, I relit my fire and sat closer to it. My stomach grumbled as the fire came to life. I picked out three small fish And set them up near the fire. While the fish cooked, I took this moment to look at my arm. The cut was long, but not deep. It would still need bandaging to stop the trickle of blood still flowing out of it. I scearched among my shelves until I found the small roll of bandages. They would need to be replaced, I was running low.

I used some type of medicine and spread it on my arm to protect the wound from infection. It wouldn't surprise me if Samickle had rabies. Then again he might be thinking the same about me right now. Taking the bandages, I binded my arm quickly and made sure to tie it tight. With that done I unseathed my sword. I touched my thumb to the blade and pulled away. The blade was dull. If it had been sharp, it would have cut my thumb he moment it touched the blade.

The smell of my fish cooking caused my stomach to growl some more. While the fish continued cooking, I began to sharpen my sword. It took me about ten minutes until it was sharp enough again. With that done I turned my attention back to the fish. They were burned, but I didn't care how well cooked they were. As long as something was food and edible, I would eat it. I never cared too much for the way things taste. Taking the first fish, I pulled away the skin to get to the meat on the inside. I ignored the taste like I've done so many times before and finished the fish in a few bites.

I did the same with the other two fish. I still felt hungry so took out a fourth fish and placed it by the fire to cook. As it cooked my mind began to wander. I'll admit it, Tuskle was right. I did lose my temper. I didn't have to go after her like that. I didn't have to try and kill Samickle either. The others may just think I was mad, but I knew the truth. The wolf part of me felt like killing him. It sent a uneasy feeling up my spine. But what's done is done. I knew the apology wouldn't mean anything. There was more to it. Knowing old man Kemu, he would make sure I was punished.

The fourth fish was done cooking and I devoured it quickly. The village meeting would be soon. It always started at sunset. Grabbing my sword, I stepped outside of my warm hut. The sun was going down, it was nearly sunset. Just because Kemu said I needed to be there to recive my punishment didnt mean I was actully going to do it. I knew the villagers hated me. Attacking Tuskle and Samickle just added fuel to the fire. I didn't care if I got in trouble for what I was about to do now. It beats having to deal with the entire village glaring at me with their hatred.

I turned into a wolf once again and managed to jump to the top of my hut. With the help of a few rocks nearby. I jumped again and grabbed a low hanging branch in my jaws. Carefully, getting back down to the ground, I went to the door of my hut. Walking backwards, I retraced my steps sweeping the branch across my footsetps. Doing this would not only erase my footsteps but mix up my scent. It would scatter some of the snow around making it diffucult to follow. I knew when I wan't there to receive my punishment, they would send someone to get me.

It was now sunset. The meeting would be starting. I had to work fast before they got here. Normally one of the villagers would come to get me if I did something wrong. Giving the circumstances, Kemu just might come himself. A howl sounded in the distance. It was Kemu. He was clearly angry I hadn't shown up. I needed to work faster. In human form it would take almost an hour to get to my hut. In wolf form they could be here in about half of that time.

I quickly made my way near the edge of Kamui and out through the underground tunnel that led here. I contined to move around the snow until I was a few dozen yards away from the snow. There may not have been snow, but the smell of the branch would still mix up me scent. I kept the branch with me as I exited the tunnel. Once I was out I walked near the edge of the cliff in Shinshu Field. I looked below and saw the ocean a few hundred feet down. I dropped the branch and watched it fall in the water.

While still in wolf form I troted over to the old ferry that I knew would lead to Agata Forest. There was a tunnel filled with water, it had a small dock at the end that I had to jump to get onto. I jumped into the water and swam to the small dock at the end of the tunnel. As I got onto the dock, I shook off the water that had clung to my coat and made my way into the swamp like forest. The sun hadn't completly set, but it would pretty soon.

I jumped down from the cliff to the short distance to the shore. I passed by a cavern but ignored it, knewing there were people there. A sudden smell made me stop. I sniffed the ground near the entrance to the cavern. I could smell wolf, and it reminded me of the tribe's smell. There was no way the tribe could have caught up to me. I sniffed again I realized it wasn't from any Onia. The smell was sweet, like fruit, or flowers. The Onia smelled more like wood, smoke and ice. It was most likely just a ordinary wolf.

I continued on my way until I made it to a cave. The ran down the long tunnel and into the small clearing. One of the wood sprite's trees were here. It felt warm insdie the clearing and the sky could be seen clearly. By the tree were some rabbits who kindly ignore me. I always came to this place to escape the tribe and the weather in Kamui. The sun still hadn't set, but I curlled up near the tree to sleep anyway.

I couldn't get the smell of that wolf out of my mind. The scent was faded, but frequent. It told me a lot about it. The wolf was clearly female judgeing by the smell and the shape of the pawprints by the shore. It liked eating fruit and sweet things (which was odd for a wolf) and rolling in flowers. I could catch the scent of meat, but it was mostly fish. She had human and dog scent on her pelt. She must have liked being around humans to have so many scents on her. There was also the faint smell of blood. Not from any prey, it was hers.

Now that I think about it, I did see some dark spots on the soft snad near the shore. I didn't think it was blood, let alone the wolf's. My wolf instincts told me to get up and find her. I wasn't sure why but it sounded like a good idea. But I couldn't just get up and go looking. I decided to stick around for a while tomarrow. Maybe once I saw her I could get her out of my head. If I didn't see her by mid-afternoon I would go back to Kamui and face my punishment. But I knew I wouldn't like it.

* * *

><p>"Ok lets get started." said Grandmother Fawn.<p>

The sun was begining to set outside. Grandmother had spent all morning checking the bones to see what my vision meant. She didn't get anything. Once noon rolled around she had me traveling all over Agata Forest, Shinshu Field and Taka Pass. She wanted me to gather supplies so I could begin training with the brush techniques. When I returned, she sent me out to go hunting fishing for a bit. She wanted to see if I could trade some of the fish we had with a new merchant who set up near Taka Pass. He had fish caught from the city. It was a pretty good trade.

I decided to swim as a wolf some of way back to the cavern insteand of having to take the long way. I was wading through the water when I felt like I stepped on something. When I got close to the cavern, I discovered I stepped on a sharp rock. It was still stuck in my paw. When I got to te house Grandmother wasn't there. She left a note saying she went to Kamiki. While she was gone I took the rock out of my paw and turned back to human.

One good thing about turning from one form to the other, was the faster ability to heal. Another thing was that if I got wet as a wolf, I wouldn't still be wet as a human. I still put medicine on it and bandaged it to prevent any infection. I took about five of the fish I traded and took them to Kokari's house. Kokari and his father were thankful for them. When I returned to the house, Grandmother was waiting for me. There were four items in front of me. A broken cup, a small block of wood, a dead flower in a pot, and an empty bowl.

"There are 13 brush techniques." she began. "Today we will practice five of them. The first brush technique is rejuvination. It gives you the power to fix something missing or broken." She pushed the broken cup towards me.

"What do I do?" I asked.

"Try to fix the broken cup." she said.

I looked between her and the cup a few times. "How?"

She sighed and handed me a thin scroll. It had 'Rejuvination' written on the side and was tied with a red ribbion. "Read this. Theres a brief explination about this power, what it does and how the great god Okami used it. Then theres information on how to do it yourself."

She pulled out four more scrolls which I guessed would be the ones I would also be learning today. Instead of giving the others to me she held them in her hand. I quickly skimmed through the part about Okami and read to actual instructions. It didnt seem too complicated. Filling in holes where something was missing. How hard could that be?

"You have to block out everything." she said. "Clear your mind and focus on fixing the cup, and your brush. Just take your time."

I looked at the big hole cup. The hole ran down the entire side of it and caused cracks around it. Some of the cracks spread all over the cup making it looked covered in them. The cup looked easily breakable.

"So," I started. "Just focus on the cup? Block everything else out?"

"Yes. Think of it like a vision." she began. "When your visions come they automaticly block out everything that has nothing to do with the vision. Just imagine that feeling."

It didn't make sense to me but there was no harm in trying was there? I closed my eyes first and took a few deep breaths. It wasn't too hard to remember the feeling of getting a vision. I let that feeling take over me for a short while. Something was off, my ears could normally hear the faintest of sounds. I could even hear as far as the bridge that led to Taka Pass, but not now. I could no longer hear the faint sound of the waterfall from the river. The sound of the flames flickering from the candles all over the house. I couldn't hear myself breath or my heart beat. Panic began to set in at the thought of my heartbeat. I opened my eyes to be met by something that didn't seem real.

Grandmother Fawn wasn't moving or breathing. The flames weren't moving on the candles. I strained my ears to catch a sound, any sound but to no avail. The most disturbing thing was my vision. Almost everything was drained of color. Everything was black with a slight tan or beige color, and grey(pretty much sepia tones). As I reached out to touch my grandmother, my arm moved in slow motion. I was surprised I was still able to move. It was as time had stopped. It was a disturbing thought.

Thats when I remembered the cup and what I was sapposed to be doing. I took the little brush attached to the fan. The tip of the brush was wet and some ink got on my fingers. I know I didn't put any ink on it, so where had it come from? I looked between the cup and brush for a few seconds. I picked up the cup and placed the brush near it. I touched the edge of the cup with the brush and to my amasement, the color on the brush changed. Instead of a deep black it was now a light grey.

Taking the brush, a slowly drew a line over to the other broken edge. The ink began to spread out, like how it doep when someone drips a dot of ink on paper. I continued to draw around the broken edge, eventualy filling it in. Once finished I turned the cup to do the many cracks. The ink stayed in place. It took almost no time at all to fill in the cracks. Once done I set the cup back on the table. Now that I was done I didn't know what to do. If I used the feeling of having a vision to get like this couldn't I use it to get out? It was worth a shot.

I let go of the feeling of having a vision and everything came rushing back. The color, the sounds, the smells, my air(I had no idea how I managed that without air.) and most importantly, movement.

"I see you fixed the cup." said Grandmother Fawn.

"What was that?" I gasped. "It was like time stopped."

"It did." she said calmly. "It's sapposed to do that. It can give you advantage in certain things. Not to useful for running away."

"I could tell." I said. "I was moving in slow motion the whole time."

"Well then lets continue shall we?" she siad ignoring my comment. She handed me the next scroll and I skimmed through it like I did to the first. It was titled 'Power Slash'. It didn't seem too diffucult. Once I was done grandmother pushed the block of wood near me. I closed my eyes and focused once more on that feelng of having visions.

This time I was better prepared for what was to come. The slow movements, lack of color, everything being frozen, still freaked me out. But if I was going to do this I should get used to it, right? Well I hoped so at least. Taking the block of wood I took the little brush and drew a quick (or somewhat slow) diagonal line across the wood and set it back down on the table. I let go of the feeling and everything came rushing back once more. I heard a small wooshing sound and the block of wood broke.

It was cut in a nice neat line, right where I had drawn it. Grandmother took the broken peices of wood off the table and tossed them with our pile of firewood. She handed me the next scroll without a word and I skimmed through it.

* * *

><p>By the time we were done I was exausted. I was lying on my bed staring up at my ceiling. The light from my candles flickered across the walls. After I did the first two I learned the first part of 'Bloom', 'Cherry Bomb' and 'Sunrise'. Well, not full versions but mini versions. After I did all four I had to practice all of them again about twenty times. I could only use bloom on very small areas, which was pretty much flowers in pots. I practiced some of it outside and made a flower patch near the old ruins. I had to try it about five times to get a small area before my ink ran out. Then I had to wait for a minute beforee it refilled on it's own (awsome right?) and I continued. About seven more mini circles later I made a flower patch.<p>

The cherry bombs came out small. Small enough to fit in my hand. Honestly it was about the size of Ume's nose. It was so cute when I first saw it I wanted to hold it. About five seconds after I picked it up it exploded in my hand. It hurt, very badly, and a bit of my hair and eyebrows got singed. My hand got a bit burnt and had blisters, but there was little strips of confetti left behind. I later made the cherry bomb in the empty bowl and left it there like I was sapposed to do. The bowl exploded, and was destroyed. A shard of it flew by me and cut my cheek. For such a little thing, it could pack a punch. I had to use rejuvination to fix the bowl (after the ink refilled).

The cut on my cheek and my somewhat burnt hand were already healed. After I fixed the bowl, they were both healed. I couldnt say the same for my eyebrows. They weren't too bad, just a bit thinner. I healed a bit fast which was another thing about myself I really didn't understand. Afterwards, once it was dark out, grandmother blew out the candles and I had to try sunrise. I made a little mini version of the sun, which looked like a small ball of light. I touched it as it lit of the room with it's little light. It was warm, but it didn't burn me this time.

I noticed that the little ink pots in the fan had increased. Instead of only three, there was now five. I continued to stare at the ceiling, my mind realing about what i've done today and what would come tomarrow. I knew I would learn four more techniques tomarrow afer I practiced the five I learned today. I was going to learn the next two stages of bloom (which counted as one) lily pad and vinewhip. Then moonrise, watersprout, and galestorm. They didn't sound too hard, but i've been wrong before.

I decided I couldn't sleep. My head was full of thoughts. Some about that vision, others about the brush techniques. The thought of the vision made me somewhat angry although I dont know why. I needed to cool off, take a swim. I got up out of bed and quitely made my way out of the house and out of the cavern. Grandmother Fawn didn't approve of my midnight swims. But so long as I was careful she wouldn't find out. Besides if any fish tries to make a snack out of me, I can always use the power slash on it.

As I stepped out onto the shore a caught a scent. It was, a wolf I think, it smelled partily human. It was male and carried the smell of blood, burnt fish (which smelled horrible) and cold. I never smelled something that cold, it was pretty warm here in Nippon. I could tell he stopped here to scent something. Maybe it was my blood that still dotted the soft white sand. I followed his scent, using my foot to swipe at the dried blood on the sand. It was difficult to follow. That burnt fish smell bothered me the most. If there was something I couldn't stand, it was the smell of burnt fish.

I stopped outside the long tunnel that led to the scared tree. It must be taking shelter there, there weren't too really any wolves around here. My wolf instincts, reacted and took offence to him being here. The wolf side of me (which I called Shine) wanted to go inside the cave and drive him off. I ignored her and continued on my way to the river. I could mentally here her growl in fustration.

Shine was like my inner voice. She couldn't speak human words, only growls and barks. But mostly growls then anything else. Sometimes she would take over my body when she got bored. Most people could tell it was her (my eyes change to silver when she's in charge) even when she tried pretending to be me. She had a pretty bad attitude and didn't like taking orders. She spent most of the time sleeping anyway. I liked to think of the two of us as two beings in the same body. When she took over I used the words our and we instead of mine or hers. Although I think I would have to change her name. Shine didn't really suit her personallity.

Right now I could feel her trying to take control of my body. She knew we weren't going to drive off the wolf, but wanted to lead the way to the river. I let her take over. As I neared the river (with Shine in control) I turned into a wolf. When I got close enough Shine jumped right into the water. Normally she would sit by the water and look at our (my) reflection in the water. I think she liked to admire our fur, but not tonight. She made my body glide through the water slilently, like a fish. The strange wolf was quickly forgotten.

As she made my body swim through the water, the fish brushed by our paws. Shine used my head to catch a fish out of the water as it swam by. We swam back to the shore and gulpped down the fish. Shine felt like taking a small nap by the shore for a while. I let her since we wouldn't be here too long. I gazed at the dark water through our eyes then looked at the sky. It was the day after the new moon and there was the tiniest bit of light in the sky.

Shine still thought about the wolf and growled. I was easily able to translate her growls.

**_We should get rid of him. This is our territory._**

_No. It's wounded. Were not attacking a wounded wolf._

**_It's his own fault for coming here. Lets get rid of him._**

_No. Now we'll check for him in the morning. It caught our scent so it should know were here. Theres a chance it will be gone by sunrise._

**_Fine then. But if it's not I'm taking over and I'm chasing it off._**

_I'm not going to let you hurt him. It isnt right to take advantage of someone's weekness. We'll ask him to leave, NOT chase him off._

Shine growled again and fell asleep, giving me control again. I layed near the shore for a while before heading back to the house. I turned back into a human as I came to the door. I snuck back in my room unnoticed. Now I felt tired as I layed down on my bed. I feel asleep to the sound of my grandmother snoring in the next room.

* * *

><p><strong>Oki got in trouble... I honestly thought writing the fight scene would be hard. But I find it easier to write them fighting as wolves then as humans. Next chapter will have Oki. Not too small but he will be in there. Although I must warn you the next chapter might be short. I'll give you a mini summery. <strong>

**I think I got the other two names of the bloom techniques mixed up. well at least the vinewhip part. I'll fix it if I figure out what their really called. Now I am going to make brownies to get some more ideas. Chocolate does wonders for me. Warning: may lead to comic mischief and random things that dont make sense.**

**Mini-summery: Oki sees... Inu brush techniques... punishment... gets technique scroll... Oki gets... finds...**

**Thats all I can say. And yes they are in that order. No that is not a sentence in the next chapter. Here is a sentence in the next chapter:**

**"I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to get away."**

**Now you must await my next chapter. I'm about halfway through chapter three so it wont be TOO long before I update again. Also if I made any spelling errors that I didnt know about please tell me? If I spelled it wrong and I know I did I will put (sp?) next to it for spelling.**


	3. Monsters

**Here's the thing: there was a storm and the power went out while I was typing this. Then I had to re-type it but after I did I clicked save. Then it just turned off by itself and later got a virus and wouldn't turn on anymore. I switched to my mom's laptop but it had problems of it's own. I have a new computer now but I still had to re-type the whole thing. Sorry if it isnt too good this is just what I remember from what I originally typed.**

**Also thank you NeonGreenSheep for the review. I try to keep my bad grammar to a minimum when I type unless I spell a word so badly there are no suggestions on how to spell it right. Although the strange (and annoying) thing is that my last computer didn't have word and once I had it updated so it did have it, it got a virus. My old way of updating was to type it on my mom's laptop but then it started having problems. After I had it open for a few minutes it would close itself without saving or cause the computer to freeze. So I would go to the Doc Manager, upload one of my mom's old files like song lyrics, erase it once it was uploaded, and type it like that. It was painfully slow which explains why this chapter is so late besides the reasons above. Now I have a new computer which spell checks everything I type. Even if I was looking for a video on YouTube it spell checks for me. Kinda annoying but worth it.**

* * *

><p>My limbs felt stiff and sore as I stretched. Sleeping on the roots of the giant tree wasn't one of the best ideas. I could tell by the color of the sky that it was dawn. The other animals that liked to linger around the tree were up and eatting some grass. I shook myself, shakeing off the dew that clung to my short coat. I needed to find some food first, then I would head back to Kamui. Of course I had to try to find the wolf first.<p>

I ran out of the cave and onto the shore, enjoying the feel of my muscles stretching. It always felt so warm in this forest, so peaceful and carefree. Plus there wasn't any toxin in this forest to mess with your head like in Yoshpet. I began to walk along the shore, occasionaly jumping to the small islands in search of food. On the farthest island I saw a boy fishing with his dog. The dog was sleeping peacefully next to a small pile of fish. My stomach growled in response.

I carefully wove around the trees and roots as I made my way to the boy. I made no sound as I crept along the (somewhat) forest floor. As I stalked closer I relaized that I wasn't just creeping toward them for the fish: I was following a trail. It was from the female wolf I smelled last night. She had come through here, and she had been angry. I was so caught up in her scent, I forgot I was supposed to be quite in my stalking. I stepped on some twigs and leaves rather loudly.

I stopped and hid behind a tree in fear of being seen. The dogs ears twitched and he lifted up his head. I streatched and looked around for a few minutes before going back to sleep. The boy, who I was guessing was his master, didn't seem to notice.

"Darn it!" the boy exclaimed. "Out of line again. I'll be back Ume. Watch the fish!"

The boy ran past me and onto the shore. He ran off to a small hut on the other side of the river. After a minute or two I continued to creep forward until I was out of the safety of the trees. The dog, who I'm guessing was Ume, didn't notice my approch as I neared closer and closer to the pile of fish. When I was a few feet away Ume raised his head and looked at me. He turned his head and looked at his master's hut, then turned back to me. As he staired at me he got up and bared his teeth at me in a silent snarl. I ignored the dog and tried to creep closer until he stepped in my way.

"Who are you, wolf?" he said. This dog was pretty brave to stand up to me. I sat up and looked down at the dog, since I was much taller then him.

"Out of my way mutt. I'm hungry and dont want to deal with you." I said stepping around him.

"Stop!" he barked as I got closer to the pile.

Right as I was about to grab a fish I felt a weight fall onto my back and drag me away. I whipped around to come face to face with the dog. He was tougher then he looked. I braced myself as Ume ran at me expecting to be tackled. Instead he dived under me, knocking me off my paws. I jumped back to my feet before he could lean in a bite me. I was now tired and hungry and agitated. I didn't feel like dealing with this mutt. I knew he would be easy to defeat, but no harm in teaching him a lesson.

The small orange orb on his banadana started to glow. As it glowed a red and blue barrier came up preventing either of us to leave until one of us was defeated. It also wouldn't let anyone outside of the barrier see or hear us, unless they had extremely good hearing and a sense of smell. These barriers always had a smell to them.

"Last chance wolf, go away!" he growled at me.

"Make me mutt!" I snapped back at him.

He growled at me and attacked. His first move involved trying to dive under me again. I jumped up and flipped in the air before I landed back on the ground. Once I turned back to face him he wasn't there. There was a small hole in front of me with a small bomb inside. I managed to get away before it exploded. Ume tackled me and attempted to to grab onto my scruff and through me. He misjudged how much I would weigh and had trouble picking me up. I used this advantage against him and managed to throw him against the barrier wall. He got up but was a bit shakey. My strength must have caused him to get hurt when he hit the wall.

Ume howled, causeing his orb and body to glow a faint orange. He reared up on his hind legs, like he was going to beg, and charged at me. It was similar to one of my attacks; it incresed his strength and speed making him harder to defeat. But i've seen this before and knew how to avoid it. I jumped out of the way of his first two attacks, when he came for the third attck I was ready for him. I managed to get my sword out in time and block his attack.

The force of my attack connecting with his head full on made him stumble and pass out. I only had a moment to counter attack before he would recover. With my sword still in my mouth I launched myself at Ume ready to end this fight. But instead of _me_ hitting _Ume_, something hit _me_. I could feel claws sticking into my side while sharp teeth held a tight grip on my neck. I shook myself loose and and backed away to see who or what had hit me.

I could tell by the scent that it was the female wolf I had smelled last night. She was roughly about the same size of me but still about one or two inches shorter. Strong thick muscle rippled under her coat as she flexed her claws. Her fur was a bright white, which seemed to glow in the light given off by the barrier. There were dark black somewhat curved lines along her back legs and tail. The way they were shaped reminded me of flames, or possibly waves. I noticed that on her flanks were more black spots; one looked like a mesh of lines. It closely resembled the kanji for dog while the other one looked like a cawprint with a cresent moon. I looked at her eyes and noticed that they were a type of silver or white color.

She stood in a defensive stance over the dog growling at me. The smell of her anger was a bit overwhelming. I could tell by her size and the markings on her fur that she wasn't an ordinary wolf. Behind her I saw the light blue spot in the barrier that she must have broken through to get inside. The dog was glaring at me with a snarl on his face. Not very brave of him, especialy when he's hiding behind a female.

The she wolf lunged at me, teeth bared and aimming for my throat. I barely managed to dodge her attack before she turned and lunged at me again. I continued to dodge her assult until we both stood apart panting. The fire in her eyes burned brightly with her anger. She defended this mutt like he was a member of her pack. If this she wolf was alone it wouldn't be surprising.

I could tell I wasn't going to win this fight. My arm may have been healed but it still hurt. The hunger only made it worse. I had to stop before she killed me, which could have been very likely. As much as it irked me to do so, I layed down and rolled onto my back in surrender. No sooner then I preformed the action did the barrier drop. The she wolf continued to growl and glare at me as she stalked her way towards Ume. She nugged him with her nose and helped him to stand. He struggled at first but got up on his legs a bit unsteady then collasped.

I rolled back over and quitely stood while the she wolf was busy helping the dog. My stomach growled again and I eyed the still fresh pile of fish on the bank. I would most likely get attacked for this but I had no choice. This was my chance and I was going to take it. I ran towards the pile and managed to grab three medium sized fish before I heard Ume's growl. I turned back and ran past Ume and the she wolf through the trees and onto the shore. I continued to run until I came to the old ferry and swam through the canel. I trotted the rest of the way to the small cliff and managed to make it up from a low point.

When I got on top of the cliff I layed down and ate the fish. I finished the first one in a few gulps but took my time eatting the last two. The new wounds I recived stung but they would heal soon. I layed there for a while watching some of the animals and people go by in the valley. After a few moments I stood and changed back to human. The feel of the change always felt so relaxing to me. Instead of walking back to the hidden door that led to Kamui I jogged. I needed to stretch me mucles some more.

As I entered the tunnel my thoughts driffted back to the she wolf. Most wolves, normal or not, wouldn't protect a dog like that. Not unless she didn't have a pack of her own. Either way that wolf was something special, I could feel it. I couldn't explain how I could feel it, I just did. As I walked futher down the tunnel I could start feeling the cold wind coming from Kamui. My thoughts instently left the she wolf behind and focaused on what was to come.

What would Kemu do to me now? Whoever was coming to my hut yesterday must have told him that I was gone. No doubt he would have someone waiting for me back at my hut. I could only hope my punishment for hurting Samickle wasn't that terrible. I wasn't going to feel sorry for what I did. On the contrary I was happy that I did it and would happily do it again. It felt like the perfect way to let off steam.

My hut came into veiw as I entered Kamui. The wind was blowing toward me sending with it the scents of some of the Onia tribe. I could make out Kai's scent, along with Tuskle and Kemu. There were a few others but I never felt the need to learn their names. Some of the Onia took on the scent of what ever animal their mask was based on. Kemu a racoon dog, Samickle an eagal, Tuskle of owls, and Kai of a deer. Like was the only one who didn't smell like and animal, but instead of a leaf thats used in medicine.

As I got closer to my hut I could tell there was someone inside. It was Kemu and Tuskle as I could smell. I hoped to delay my meeting with Kemu but it looked like I couldn't avoid it.

"Get in here Oki and face your punishment! We know your out there!" called Tuskle. I could bet she was smirking as she said it. Taing a deep breath I pushed aside the cloth that served as a door and saw Kemu and Tuskle. Sure enough she had a smrk on her face.

"Sit." said Kemu with a growl in his voice.

I sat down across the lit fire and looked at them. I avoided their gazes but I could feel their eyes boring into me. After a few seconds I looked up at them but avoided their eyes. Some stupid dominace Onia tribe thing made it hard for me to look at them directly in their eyes. They were of higher rank then me and looking into their eyes would be considered a challange. A bad chalange at that since I was considered the lowest in the pack besides Lika and a few others in the tribe.

"We have much to discuss." said Kemu. "Starting with your attacking another tribe member."

This was going to be a long talk.

* * *

><p>Shine had calmed down enough to let me take control again as we were helping Ume to stand. The calm mood ended when the wolf stole some of the fish and ran off. Normally I would have gone after him, but I needed to make sure Ume was alright. He was laying down again, his injuries clearly bothering him. Ume was tough but going against a large wolf that could weild a sword? He barely had a chance. I didn't know where Kokari was but I knew he be back soon. I trotted over to Ume who was glaring at the trees where the wolf dissapeared.<p>

I took a sniff over the worse of his wounds; they would be better in a day or two. I turned my back to him and spotted Kokari's captured fish on the bank. Ume needed to get some protein. It would help him heal and gain back his energy. I dropped three fish in front of Ume and he raised his head. He eyed the fish hungrily, but refused to take them.

"Kokari will notice that the fish are missing." he barked.

"I'll replace all of them." I reassured him."Did he count them before he left?"

"No." he replied.

"Then he wont even know I replaced them." I barked back at him.

I walked towards the edge or the river and slowly went in. If I came rushing through I could scare the fish away. After a few seconds I caught a fish, then a second and third. In about a few minutes I replaced all six fish that were taken and added a few extra to the pile. Kokari would never know what happened to his fish or the battle that took place here...

"Ume! Are you ok!"

...Until he saw Ume's wounds of course. Koakri had his pole and a net to put the fish in one hand. In the other he held a few spools of line.

"Inu! Did you see what happened to Ume?"

I began to change back so I could answer him. I didn't know how I looked when I changed... I was told that it looked beatiful. Some of my senses dulled a bit because of the change. My eyesight and hearing became less sharp. Ume looked a little afraid, no doubt of what I would tell Kokari. Ume lowered his eyes as he met my gaze. He knew I would never give him away.

"Ume was attacked by a deer." I said calmly as I dusted off my kimono. "I chased it off."

"Really?" he asked as he turned towards Ume. "You did that boy?" Ume wagged his tail a bit and gave a soft bark.

"He was chasing a rabbit. The rabbit ran by a deer and Ume startled it." I replied for Ume. I didn't like having to lie to Kokari, especially about things that Ume did or said to me. Ume and I both agreed to keep his secret life a secret when we first met.

"Will he be ok?" he asked.

"Sure. Just put some medicine on them and bandage them. They should be all healed in a day or two." I reasurred him.

Ume gave me a type of dog smile and wagged his tail. The wolf may have gotten away, but I'll get him next time. Shine and I will make sure of it. Since wolves were so rare in Nippon, there really wasn't a pack anywhere. Shine considered the Canine Warriors and any other stay dog we came across her pack. She pretty much made us the alpha of this makeshift pack. Ume was pretty much the beta, or second of the pack since he was always here in Agata forest where we lived.

With nothing better to do, I spent some time fishing with Kokari until Grandmother Fawn called me back home. From there we practiced more brush techniques and I learned some new ones. I reliazed the more I practiced the easier it was for me to get used to the feel of time stopping whenever I used the brush. I took that time to try to adjust how fast I could move. I couldn't go any faster then a brisk walk. When I layed down to go to bed that wolf still plaged my mind.

Shine still wasn't happy about not chasing after him but I let it go... for now. If I saw him again I was so going to pay him back for attacking Ume. The fact that he managed to dodge my attacks was strange. He wouldn't be so lucky next time. Besides I would love to try out my power slash and cherry bomb on him. But for now I needed sleep. I'm not sure why but i've been getting a bad feeling for a while now. I put it out of my mind the best I could and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>I hated this so much. Old man Kemu has officaly added himself to my 'soon to be dead' list. I was right about him having a pretty bad punishment for me. One part of my punishment was to help out the women around the village with whatever chores they did. I had to take orders from all of them and had no choice but to do what they said. If I refused they would tell Kemu and he would punish me futher. At first I followed out my punishment for an hour or two until some of the men in the village decided to start calling me a woman.<p>

That resulted in me not following orders and nearly stabbing all of them. Of course someone told Kemu and he decided on the second part of my punishment. Not only was I continue with my 'womenly' chores as the other villagers called me. I was now saposed to look after Samickle and nurse him back to health. This had to be the worse punishment in the history of bad punishments.

Samickle was clearly taking advantage of my punishment to the best of his ability. He had me come by and make his food which he kept complaining about it being burnt. I had to constantly take care of his wounds, feed him, read to him (from the library he keeps in his hut), run constant errands for him. The fact that he was enjoying this pissed me off to no end. I would have loved to wipe that stupid looking smirk off his face. But if I did Kemu would know and my punishment would just get worse.

Kai would sometimes come by to help me when no one else was around. Neither of us would talk as we worked together, we pretty much ignored each other. Unfortunetly Kai was not my only visitor. Tuskle would come by to tease me. Kai's younger sister Lika would come by and chat away about random things while I worked. A girl in a squirrel mask came to direct everything I did. I had no idea what her name was and I didn't care. That seemed to annoy her to no end.

I wish this would be over soon. I'm not sure how much more of this I could take.

* * *

><p>Something bad was going to happen. Both Shine and I could feel it. All of the animals in the forest were restless. Ume could sense it too. He told me he had a extra 7th sense (like my visions) that told him that evil was near. I wasn't sure how to react to this information but I believed him. I told everyone that there was a big storm coming and to stay indoors. I hated lying to them but it was for their own safety.<p>

I felt bad until I could actully smell the oncoming rain on the wind. Thunder crackled in the distance as I was heading to Kiba's to get a few medicines. The growing sense of evil never left me as I went on my way. It was something I never felt before. The worse I felt was when theives and bandits were nearby. I've had this horrible feeling all day. Actully it's been around ever since that vision. The feeling has grown since then. Grandmother Fawn thinks it's nothing now, but I know she's wrong. I can feel it.

The rain started to lightly come down in large drops. Within seconds it started to pour and I got soaked. My kimono clung to me like a second skin, not uncomfortable but relaxing. I closed my eyes and let the cool rain wash over me, it didn't bother me in the slightest. The loud clap of thunder snapped me out of my trance. It was deep enought to cause the ground to shake.

The ground continued to shake even when the sound of the thunder had died down. Then it started to shake more violently. The wind started to pick up too, swirling around leaves like a tornado. Lightning streaked across the sky as thunder sounded in the distance and the sky became darker. In the midst of the chaos, I managed to make out what looked like a dark cloud in the distance.

But dark clouds didn't have red smoke mixed in with them, and they didn't move that fast. Especially the one that broke off from the giant mass and hovered over the sacred tree. As it hovered over the tree it spread itself out and completely engulfed it. Black smoke came out of the dark mass as it circled the tree.

Within seconds the sacred tree was no more. The remaining petals had caught fire as they fell off the tree. The wind began to blow sending them flying across the forest, setting everything they touched ablaze. The branches and trunk of the tree were black and charred. Black wisps of smoke rose from what remained of the tree.

Tears blurred my vision as I took in the rest of my surroundings. The dark clouds continued to move across the sky and towards Taka Pass. Some people had come out of their homes to see what was going on. As they did they turned to stone almost on sight. I hardly noticed the black cloud that started toward me. When  
>I did notice it it wrapped itself around my left leg.<p>

Searing pain flashed up my leg and I screamed. I fell to the ground and tried to crawl away but I couldn't get far. The black mass had a good hold on my leg and refused to let go. I let out another scream as it's grip tightened. The smell of burning flesh was in the air and I struggled harder. After a few more seconds it let go and back away.

I glanced down to see what became of my leg, and it made me sick. It looked charred beyond all recognition. It was completely black and a few trickles of blood could be seen. When I tried to move it a few black flecks fell off. I could feel the bile rising to my throat but held it back.

As much as it pained me to do so I set my other leg on the ground and tried to run. The cloud wasn't following me, most likely just playing with me. I ran back towards the cave to run right into Grandmother Fawn at the mouth. Before I could get a word out she shoved a bag into my hands and pushed me out.

"Run," she said. "as fast as you can. The rest of the technique scrolls are inside along with the one's you've learned, your fan, and a few medicines and herbs to keep your strength up."

"But what about you?" I asked. I couldn't leave her all alone, I didn't want her to end up like everyone else.

"I'll be fine, I can protect myself." she replied. "Take this too, it was your fathers."

She handed me a sword inside a blue sheath. Normally I would have taken this time to take in it's features but with the evil clouds covering the entire forest now there wasn't time. I clenched it and the bag in my hands as I looked back at her. There were so many questions I wanted to ask but she pushed me again. Tears ran freely down my face as I turned around, hugged her, then ran.

"I'll be back for you!" I called out as I ran.

I didn't look back, only kept running. There were a few places where the dark clouds didn't reach. It was like a path that led right to the old ferry. It would have been easier to climb up the cliff side to get out but there wasn't time for that either.

I slipped as I was heading up the path because of my injured leg and tumbled back down. I landed into the black cloud along the ground, getting my back and right arm burned. It wasn't as bad as my leg but hurt all the same. As I scrambled away I turned into my wolf form. It still hurt to run but I would be able to get away faster.

Grabbing the sword and bag in my jaws, I ran up the slope again and out through the ferry entrance. Without hesitation I jumped into the water and began to swim away. The water felt good against my burnt skin and fur. The waterway wasn't very long and it didn't take long at all to reach the end.

As soon as I was out of the water four green imp looking creatures surrounded me. Behind them I could see the entire valley had suffered the same fate as Agata Forest. My attention was snapped back to the creatures as a sharp pain went across my muzzle. One of them was holding a knife with a bit of blood on it.

As if on cue the other three took out their knives and all four came at me. I barely managed to dodge one but the other three hit their marks. One cut me on my burnt arm and the other two were stabbed into my side. I yelped and shook the imps off. I ran right into the dark cloud, which looked more like a dark wall. The burning sensation raced over my entire body as I stood there, frozen in pain.

The four green imps took this chance to jump on me and stabbed me again. The pain jolted me out of it and I ran. The imps fell off as I ran but kept up the pace with me. They continued to jump at me, slashing, jabbing and stabbing. As I ran I felt the burning begin to fade away, but it was quickly replaced by more pain from the imp's knives. It looked like the area I was running in now was free of the dark clouds.

It looked like the only safe place was Kamiki Village, which is where the trail led. The entrance however was blocked with a giant boulder. Considering the current situation I wasn't about to take my chances trying to get rid of it. I kept running straight ahead, and back through the dark wall. It hurt but It wasn't as bad as the green imps and their knives.

One of imps caught up and grabbed hold of my leg sending me crashing to the ground. The others pounced on me and started to stab me in multiple places. All four held me down as they stabbed me over and over, mostly in burnt spots. Some of the places they stabbed me made other stab wounds bigger. That's when I noticed the sword Grandmother Fawn had given me. It was partly out of it's sheath and within easy reach of my mouth.

I picked it up in my jaws and twisted my head until one of the imps was in reach. I thrust the sword into it's side, hoping to distract it a little. It screeched in pain, gaining the attention of the other three. The injured imp started to slash at things violently. The three manged to dodge without completely releasing their hold on me. The enraged imp's knife cut just above my eyes. Blood welled up and trickled down into my eyes, blurring my vision. While all four were distracted I picked up the sheath and bag, along with the sword, and twisted my way free. I gained a good couple feet of a head start before they started chasing after me again.

The blood in my eyes blurred my vision, but I still managed to make a few things out. The time I've spent inside the dark mass was taking it's tole on me. I was slowing down a bit, giving the imps a chance to catch up to me. I forced myself to push onward until a cliff came into my sights. I would be able to gain some distance if I climbed it. I shortened the distance the best I could until I made it to the cliff side.

I jumped on a cat statue to make it up the cliff. It may have been disrespectful, but there wasn't time. When I turned to look back at the imps they were jumping up and down near the statue. Apparently they weren't smart enough to figure out a way up. I let out a sigh but I knew I couldn't rest here. The burning pain was almost too much for me. I heard some type of demonic laughing behind me and turned to see a, floating scroll? It glowed red then vanished leaving behind another strange creature.

Something black that seemed to have the same structure of the green imps appeared behind me. It had three objects floating around it and they seemed to be glowing a bit. Four more of them appeared and tried to surrounded me. Before they could succeed one of the imps fired what looked like some type of beam out of one of it's floating objects. It went through my forearm earning a large yelp from me. My bag and sword fell to the ground.

I picked them up quickly and ran towards the old ruins on top of the cliff. As I ran the imps fired more beams at me. Some missed, but most hit their marks. I resisted the urge to cry out because if I did I would drop something. There was no way I was going to go back for it. I could feel my paws bleeding as I ran, possibly cut while being held down by the green imps. The blood in my eyes didn't help any, it nearly sent me off the side of the cliff and into the ocean.

While I was running on the cliff, a bolt of lighting struck the old ruin. A rumbling sound came to my ears and a saw movement coming from it. It looked like the bolt of lightning had opened some sort of door. Another one of the imps sent a beam at me, shooting it through my leg. It gave me the extra boost to make it to the ruin's and through the door. As I ran down the dark tunnels I could hear the imps slowing down behind me. I continued to run, right into a wave of cold air and a flash of white.

* * *

><p>I was going to get it, Old man Kemu would make sure of it. But could anyone really blame me? It was Samickle's fault anyway. He knew I had short temper, and he stroked the flames. Although slamming his head through the floor wasn't the best thing to do. Neither was setting fire to his hut, all within view of Tuskle and Kai. They put out the flames in time but by that time I was gone. I had already run past my hut and was heading towards the entrance to Kamui.<p>

To make matters even worse I was just attacked by weird looking monsters. I know I've seen them before, maybe in a old scroll. Or maybe I remembered them from some old story I was told as a kid. I should have informed Kemu of this, but considering current the situation I didn't feel like facing him. So for now, my only plan was to run and come up with a good excuse on my 'bad behavior'.

Cowardly but I didn't really care right now. The one thing that did bother me was that dark looking cloud hovering over the rest of Nippon. Since it suddenly showed up I had to keep stopping to fight these demons or whatever they were. They just liked to pop up out of scrolls in random places everywhere. Just like the ones in the snow a few yards away from me.

They looked like they were attacking something, probably one of their own. So once I took out the other's I would put the last one out of it's misery. As I got closer I could see that there were five of them, six including the injured one. As soon as I was close enough I attacked the nearest one with my sword, successfully slicing it in half. It vanished in a plume of black smoke.

The other four turned and lunged at me. I managed to slice the second and third in half like the first. The last two were a bit more cautious in their attack. They both came at me at the same time. I drove my sword into one's stomach and thrust my sword up. While the fourth one was dissipating the fifth tried to sneak up behind me. I dodged just in time as it brought it's blade down. It grazed my shoulder but it was only a flesh wound. Within seconds I defeated the last one.

I turned to the injured one that still remained in the same place un-moving. I ended up a few feet away because of all the fighting. I dragged the tip of my sword in the snow as I walked towards it. Once I was close enough I raised my sword, ready to finish it off. Only to drop it in the snow once I got a good look at it. Or rather once I got a good look at her.

* * *

><p>This was just my luck. I just escaped the evil imps in Hana Valley, entered a magic door in the old ruins, just to be attacked again. These monsters looked different from the others, plus they were much stronger. I was too weak to try and fight back, but that didn't stop them from overwhelming me. I ended up just laying in the cold in pain and agony.<p>

Thankfully it didn't last long. I heard one of them let out a scream, then the others stopped attacking me. After a few more screeches there was silence. I had already turn back into my human shape as soon as the monsters left me alone. I lifted my head a bit to see who was there but my efforts were in vain. There was more blood in my eyes now, obscuring my vision.

I heard something fall and the dark figure was motionless. From what I could make out it looked like a person. They didn't utter a word, just rolled me over in the snow. Whoever it was tried to say something to me, but it all came out muffled. They tapped my face a few times as my eyes started to close. I opened my eyes a bit to try and make out who it was, but all I could see was a dark blur surrounded by white.

The next thing I knew, whoever this person was, picked me up and carried me away. I don't know if they grabbed the bag and sword, to be honest I didn't care. Even if the sword did belong to my father, I was too exhausted to do anything about it. I could feel my eyes begin to droop as my vision started to turn black around the edges. I let out a sigh as I let my eyes close, and darkness overcame me.

* * *

><p><strong>I actually dreamed the part with the imps, last time I play Okami before I go to bed. Since I dreamed it it was the easiest part to remember when I re-retyped this. Although I refer to the darkness as a cloud, dark mass and wall, it really seemed more like a ocean of darkness to me. It felt weird to type it describing it like a ocean.<strong>

**I know in the game the darkness just comes like a wave but I wondered what would it be like for some of the villagers. So I just got this idea on what it could be like. Although some just got sick or were immune to it I felt like being creative. Plus when I was playing the game whenever Ammy went into the darkness it looked like she was being burned to me. ****I have a bit of a writers block for how things will go when Oki and Inu are formally introduced though.**

**I was also asked how often I update. Normally about once or twice a month but it may not be the same fanfic all the time. But in light of the holiday season (October- February) when I have less school I'm updating more. But I'm not sure when I'll update this fanfic again. The reason is because**** I'm replaying Okami. Just the parts in Kamui so I can describe the village and the huts a bit better when I write them.**

**So I hope to have chapter 4 before Christmas because after I'm done with the 2 possible Christmas specials I making for My Final Fantasy fanfic I'm taking a break.**


	4. Am I dead? Spolier

**I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date... but anyway for those who don't read my Final Fantasy fic and didn't see my message I'm just going to sum it up at the end.**

**Another thing is my spell check isn't as good as it used to be so sometimes it won't say when I spell something wrong. However if I'm not sure I spelled it right and the spell check doesn't say anything I will put (sp?) at the end. And sadly I might not be able to make it as long as I want anymore (5000 words + ) so they will most likely be shorter (2500 words+).**

**Sorry for it being so short but it's better then nothing. Just consider this a spoiler.**

* * *

><p><strong>~~~ first day~~~<strong>

My head was pounding uncontrollably. I couldn't see anything, only darkness. Although I'm not sure if my eyes were even open. If I had to guess, I would say that I was dead. The only thing that poked a hole in that is that I felt somewhat warm. At random moments it would be suddenly cold but they never lasted long. I always thought that once you died you wouldn't be able to feel anything. Maybe I'm stuck in limbo.

Then again maybe I was still alive. It was hard for me to really tell. Sometimes I thought I felt my arms moving uncontrollably; it was the same for the rest of my body. It almost felt like someone was lifting them up, but since I could barely feel anything at all I had no real idea. For all I know those monsters could be using my arms as snacks. It wasn't a pleasant thought and I didn't really want to think about it. I tried to push the thought out of my mind as force myself to sleep, hoping that whatever was happening now would be over soon.

**~~~third day~~~**

I thought I could hear sounds. They were really quite and hard to make out. When I tried to open my eyes again I thought I saw a bit of color. I'm not sure what color it was, I just knew it wasn't as dark as everything else. Maybe I wasn't really dead after all. But if I wasn't dead, then what happened to me? If I really was alive, had did I go from being freezing cold and surrounded by white to pleasantly warm and in a somewhat dark place? More importantly, where was I?

I doubt those monsters just got bored and left me to die. They seemed pretty focused on catching me to just suddenly give up. Someone must have come along and found me. Maybe they drove the monsters off or even killed them. Obviously I couldn't defend myself in the condition I was in, which led to an even more important question. Who was it that saved me?

**~~~ fourth day (by this time Ammy should be in Agata Forest for the first time)~~~**

By this time I was sure I wasn't dead. Maybe just paralyzed. I was slowly gaining some feeling in some of my limbs. I could twitch my fingers and arms pretty good. My legs however, it felt like they were, gone. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't feel anything. Half the time I wondered if I was really moving them.

Now the muffled sounds were getting louder. The light was getting bigger until I could almost make out a color. It was brown, or maybe red? The random moments when I would get cold then warm again were becoming frequent. It took me a while to realize that it was just the wind blowing. Although I've never known the wind to be so cold before.

I could almost always feel someone touching me. It was mostly on my arms though. When they stopped there was always a strange tingling feeling left behind. It was actually very soothing once the tingling stopped. My sense of smell came back bit by bit so I could tell what a few of the things around me were. Fire and wood were obvious, fish, and a few people I didn't recognize. Normally based on the weather or plant life, I have no trouble being able to recognize where I am. The wind carries scents on it and gives me more information, but that wasn't the case here.

Judging from the smell, everything around here was cold. All the wind carried was the smell of ice and snow. It didn't snow at all back at home. On the rare chance I did see it, it wouldn't last very long and would start melting the second it touched the ground. But since the smell of the snow was so strong, I had to be in the mountains. It was the only place I've heard of and seen covered in snow, from a distance that is.

Whenever night would fall the smell of snow and ice would increase. It was actully painful for me to smell it since all that came from it was a sting in my nose.(1) Feeling weary again I forced myself to relax, ignoring the painful sensation in my nose. I still had no idea where I was or what had happened to me. More importantly what happened to Grandmother Fawn. Hopefully the next time I woke I would be well enough to get some answers.

**1. Ever chew mint gum and drink really cold water at the same time? Thats what happens to me.**

**Computer problems, busy summer, not going into it. ****Also... started a new story on Quizilla and got caught up on that for a while. ****Thanks to those who are even still reading this. If there's one thing I don't like it's when a story just sits there for months and isn't updated. I'm sorry for the extremely long wait. So even though I have many computer problems, watching four animals in my house everyday, and in the process of finding a job, I'll try to update as much as I can before my birthday.**

**Speaking of which, as a gift to myself i will try to do a double update. Weather or not it will be one chapter here and one for my other fic, or two here and two there has yet to be decided.**


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